Agapito-Tenfen Sarah, Lopez Flor R, Mallah Narmeen, Abou-Slemayne Gretta, Trtikova Miluse, Nodari Rubens O, Wickson Fern
GenØk Center for Biosafety Siva Innovasjonssenter Tromsø Norway.
Department of Laboratory Science and Technology American University of Science and Technology Ashrafieh Lebanon.
Ecol Evol. 2017 Oct 11;7(22):9461-9472. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3415. eCollection 2017 Nov.
The flow of transgenes into landraces and wild relatives is an important biosafety concern. The case of transgene flow into local maize varieties in Mexico (the center of origin of maize) has been intensively debated over the past 15 years, including legal, political, and environmental disputes fanned by the existence of a significant scientific controversy over the methods used for the detection of transgenes. The use of diverse approaches and a lack of harmonized methods specific to the detection and monitoring of transgenes in landraces have generated both positive and negative results regarding contamination of Mexican maize with genetically modified material over the years. In this paper, we revisit the case of transgene contamination in Mexican maize and present a novel research approach based on socio-biological analysis of contrasting communities and seed management systems. Two communities were used to investigate how different social and biological factors can affect transgene flow and impact transgene spread in Mexico. Our results show the presence of transgenes in one community and thus support the position that transgenes are highly likely to be present in Mexican maize landraces. However, our work also demonstrates that the extent and frequency with which transgenes can be found will significantly depend on the societal characteristics and seed management systems of the local communities. Therefore, we argue that future analysis of transgene presence should include social research on the seed management practices in the sampling area so that more robust and comprehensive understandings and conclusions can be drawn.
转基因流入地方品种和野生近缘种是一个重要的生物安全问题。在过去15年里，转基因流入墨西哥当地玉米品种（玉米的起源中心）的情况一直备受激烈争论，其中包括因转基因检测方法存在重大科学争议而引发的法律、政治和环境纠纷。多年来，由于采用了多种方法且缺乏专门用于检测和监测地方品种中转基因的统一方法，关于墨西哥玉米是否被转基因材料污染产生了正反两方面的结果。在本文中，我们重新审视墨西哥玉米的转基因污染情况，并基于对不同社区和种子管理系统的社会生物学分析提出一种新的研究方法。我们利用两个社区来调查不同的社会和生物因素如何影响转基因流动以及转基因在墨西哥的传播。我们的结果显示在一个社区中存在转基因，因此支持转基因很可能存在于墨西哥玉米地方品种中的观点。然而，我们的研究也表明，发现转基因的程度和频率将很大程度上取决于当地社区的社会特征和种子管理系统。因此，我们认为未来对转基因存在情况的分析应包括对采样地区种子管理实践的社会研究，以便得出更有力和全面的理解与结论。
